Years and Years trailer: Russell Tovey plays gay character in new Russell T Davies drama
Credit: The CW
A trailer has been revealed for Years and Years, a new TV show from Queer as Folk creator Russell T Davies.
The former Doctor Who showrunner revealed the trailer for his first major project since award-winning gay drama A Very English Scandal.
Not to be confused with the queer band of the same name, the new BBC drama follows the Lyons family in Manchester across a fifteen-year period, beginning in 2019 and heading into the near-future.
The show will follow the family “in a Britain rocked by unstable political, economic and technological change.”
Years and Years includes LGBT+ characters
The trailer includes a glimpse of gay character Daniel Lyons, played by Russell Tovey, kissing his husband at their wedding, and also hints that the show may broach the subject of trans issues.
Bethany, played by Lydia West, says: “I’m not transsexual – I’m transhuman. I will be data.”
The drama stars Emma Thompson as Vivienne Rook, an outspoken celebrity turned political figure whose controversial opinions divide the nation.
Russell Tovey’s character Daniel Lyons ties the knot in BBC drama Years and Years
Rory Kinnear plays financial advisor Stephen Lyons, who is and the family’s peacekeeper who is married to ambitious and opinionated accountant Celeste, played by T’Nia Miller.
Rounding out the family are housing officer Daniel Lyons, played by Russell Tovey, “dangerous radical” Edith, played by Jessica Hynes and the heavily pregnant Rosie, played by Ruth Madeley.
Anne Reid plays Muriel, imperial grandmother to the Lyons.
New drama will imagine future world events
A release hints: “Everything we fear, and everything we hope for, happening around this tight-knit family. Society gets hotter, faster, madder, with the turmoil of politics, technology and distant wars affecting the Lyons in their day-to-day lives.
“Britain withdraws from Europe, America becomes a lone wolf, China asserts itself, and a new world begins to form.
“But someone’s taking advantage, as MP Vivienne Rook begins her rise to power – that new breed of politician, an entertainer, a rebel, a trickster and a terror, leading us into an unknown future.
“Set against this, the Lyons have to navigate their everyday hopes and fears, knowing that one ordinary family could never change the world. Or could they?”
Russell T Davies, said; “I’ve wanted to write this for 20 years or so. And as the world accelerates like crazy around us, I realised I’d better get on with it!
“It’s a joy to be back home with [production company] RED, and an honour to be on BBC One.”
An air date for Years and Years is yet to be announced.
However, Davies is already at work on another LGBT-themed project, The Boys, a drama set during the AIDS crisis.
